iRobot Create and Roomba

iRobot Create and Roomba

The Create robot from iRobot is intended for educational use. It is basically a Roomba vacuum cleaning robot without the vacuum cleaner. Recent model Roomba robots can also be controlled by RDS because they have a serial interface.

The Create is supported both in hardware and in simulation. It is also the platform used for Sumo robot competitions. (The Sumo Simulation is available on CodePlex).

Note that the iRobot Command Module for the Create is not required for RDS and is not used.

Setting up the Hardware

The Samples and Tutorials can be used with both iRobot Roomba and Create when connected to a PC using a serial port or Bluetooth® adapter (such as the RooTooth or BAM). To use either the iRobot Roomba or Create with Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio (RDS), follow the manufacturer's directions for establishing a connection between the PC and the robot. In the case of a Bluetooth connection, you need to pair your PC with the robot.

When you start one of the Robotics tutorials such as, Robotics Tutorial 4 (C#) - Drive-By-Wire for the first time, a Web browser window opens automatically allowing you to configure the hardware. Please change the SerialPort value to the COM port connecting the PC to the robot. If you are using a Bluetooth® adapter that assigns separate inbound and outbound serial ports for the connection, use the outbound port.

Running Samples

To verify that the robot is connected, start a Decentralized Software Services (DSS) node using any of these command lines from a DSS command prompt:

To start the basic iRobot service exposing the iRobot SCI command interface: